Robert. J. Groden 212 Emily Lane Boothwyn, PA 1 9061 (215) 485-3020 FAX:(215) 494-8002
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Robert. J. Groden 212 Emily Lane Boothwyn, PA 1 9061 (215) 485-3020 FAX:(215) 494-8002 Letters to the Editor The Washington Post 1150 15th Street NW Washington, DC 20071 May 29, 1991 RE: "Dallas In Wonderland" May 19, 1991 Dear Sir: As a leading researcher into the murder of President Kennedy, I consider it my duty to express my anger with George Lardner's "commentary", "Dallas In Wonderland", 5/19/91. It is a sad step backward in the all too slow quest to uncover the truth in the murder of President Kennedy. Mr. Lardner is hardly unbiased in his view of the case. In 1978 while a commentator for PBS during the hearings before the House Select Committee on Assassinations, he ridiculed any statements or evidence pointing toward the conspiracy. The Washington Post, through Mr. Lardner, totally disregards the final report of the House Assassinations Committee which found that, to a 95% certainty, the assassination of President Kennedy was indeed the result of a conspiracy. By going back to the completely disproven Warren Report is to act like an ostrich burying it's head in the sand. In my 1989 book, High Treasoil, I presented 500 pages of evidence dealing with the assassination conspiracy and the subsequent cover-up. Although High Treason reached #2 on the New York Times Non-fiction best seller list and was #1 regionally, the Washington Fos••, has always c!eclincd tc, rsvii-A4 it. In it's simplesfTZTimB-T-the- FTIFla earwitness testimony as well as the photographic, scientific, acoustic and medical evidence all prove: 1) No one person acting alone could have committed the murder. (Based on wound entrances, shot timing and trajectories). 2) If Lee Oswald's rifle was used in the murder, it could not have been the only weapon. And there must have been at least three weapons fired. (Based on minimum shot timing, wound locations and trajectories). 1 .3) In all probability Lee Oswald never fired even a single shot that day. (Based on eye witness, paraffin, PSE and VSA testing). 4) There were at least 5 and probably as many as 7 shots fired • in Dealey Plaza. (Based on physical, medical, photographic and eye/earwitness testimony). Oliver Stone has taken the totally transparent issue of the assassination conspiracy and is presenting a far more support-able and believable view of the assassination than did the Warren Commission and it's few remaining die-hard, apologist supporters. If Mr. St-one elected not to talk to Mr. Lardner, who could blame him. Look at Mr. Lardner's record. Mr. Lardner was sitting in the hearing room cif the House Assassinations Committee that first day of hearings late in 1978. I was the second witness called to testify before the Committee. I was guaranteed that I would be allowed to return to present a small volume of additional photographic and medical evidence of conspiracy before the Committee. When the Committee reneged, did Mr. Lardner raise his voice in protest to the suppression of evidence? No! Did he request to see the evidence? No! When evidence of a bullet recovered from the Presidential limousine that could not be linked to Oswald's rifle was accidentally mentioned in the hearings, did Mr. Lardner editorialize the need to pursue this and other leads? No! Did Mr. Lardner raise his voice, or his fingers to his typewriter in protest when I presented the testimony of over a dozen credible witnesses that the autopsy photographs of President Kennedy as presented by the Government to the House Assassinations Committee, the Rockefeller Committee and the Ramsey Clark panel were, beyond any question, forgeries? Again, No! Mr. Lardner's track record is clear, as is his attitude toward the issue of conspiracy no matter how broad or narrow. His article was not fair commentary nor was it an honest appraisal of the issue. It was Oliver St-one bashing and a hatchet job against Jim Garrison. If Jim Garrison's investigation and prosecution of Clay Shaw fell short of the mark, it was not because of Mr. Garrison, but rather because of outside interference beyond his control and from powers much higher up. One can certainly argue the that Mr. Garrison "lost the case" against. Shaw, but one fact remains clear, Jim Garrison was the first and, so far, the only public official to attempt to solve. the mystery surrounding the murder of President. Kennedy. He certainly tried harder than the Warren and Rockefeller Commissions. For the record, the Shaw jury was completely convinced that there had been a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy! I find it strange that Mr. Lardner would "review" a theatrical motion picture seven to eleven months before it is due for release. And that the review was based solely upon an illegally obtained first rough draft of the script thatihas now changed at least six times. • - . Harold Weisberg,.who has published six.excellentbooks.on'the : assassination conspiracy_is quoted by'Lardner4 as'a.source•:yet never once does Lardner state that Hr.i Weisberg has been fora. decades one of the most outspoken advocates of the fact of the conspiracy. A very important issue in Lardner's piece relates to the acoustics evidence. Of all the misleading areas of his article, I am probably closest to this. I was Staff Photographic Consultant to the House Select Committee on Assassinations for it's full lifetime and spent a great deal of time working with the acoustics evidence and how it related to the photographic evidence. Lardner states that there was no evidence of a fifth shot. Not only did we have proof of a fifth shot, we also had proof of at least a sixth shot and to a slightly lesser degree, a seventh. Lardner's statement's of no fifth shot are absolutely false. I cannot state this strongly enough: only three of the six or seven School Book Depository!!! The other three or four came from other fir.ing pmintsl!' One issue, involving Mr. Lardner personally, has been nagging at me for years. David Ferrie was a key suspect in the Garrison/Shaw investigation. Lardner proudly claims that he was with David Ferrie at Ferrie's apartment until 4:00 AM on the night that Ferrie died. According to the Coroner, Ferrie died well before 4:00 AM. This means that Lardner must have been with Ferrie when he died, yet he claims no personal knowledge of the events of Ferrie's death. I've always been curious about that one. As to the issue of the arrest photographs of the three Dealey Plaza "tramps", (called hobos in the article). The arrests occurred approximately 30 minutes after the assassination not 90 as was wrongly stated by Lardner. These three "tramps" all have fresh shaves and haircuts and clean fingernails. There is not one frayed collar or cuff between them. They all have shined shoes and have new shoe soles and heels. In fact, they were probably not tramps, or hobos, at. all. It is unforgivable that after nearly 28 years later we still don't know what happened to their arrest records (if there ever were any). We are told that there are no mug shots, no finger prints and most unbelievable of all no I.D.s. These three men were arrested for involvement in the murder of the President of the United States and we don't even know who they are! Even if they were only taken in for questioning, we should know who they are! Lardner's interpretation of Na.tional „Security Action Memorandum #273 is either in error or dishonest. NSAM #273 in fact reversed NSAM #263 (10/11/63) in which President Kennedy had ordered the start of our full withdrawal from Viet Nam. 273 would never have been created if John Kennedy had lived and the Viet Nam War as we knew it would never have happened. Finally, Lardner ridicules the fact that Oswald is not portrayed as an assassin. He has obviously turned his back on 27 years of evidence. 1) There are more than a half dozen witnesses proving that Lee Oswald never fired a single shot. 2) Oswald had no motive and by all accounts admired President Kennedy. 3) Oswald passed a paraffin test given to him on the afternoon of the assassination by the Dallas Police Department. 4) Oswald's statements of innocence are borne out as truthful by both Psychological Stress Evaluator and Voice Stress Analyzer tests (these are lie detectors for recorded statements) given by several different independent operators at different times through the years. His statements always test as true. 5) There was not one single witness to the killing of President Kennedy that would or could identify Oswald as the assassin. 6) As for the shooting of Dallas police officer J.D. Tippit, there was not a single witness who would identify Oswald as the killer until they were coerced, threatened or shot. 7) Fully 30% of the witnesses in Dealey Plaza testified that one or two shots came from the "grassy knoll" which was to the President's right/front.. This is completely consistent with the original medical reports and the statements of all the Dallas doctors and nurses on November 22nd, 1963. As well as the four 4 surviving films taken at the moment of the assassination. $) Oswald could not have reached the second floor from the sixth in the 72 to 90 seconds between the firing of the last shot and the time he was encountered in the second floor lunch room. Startling new evidence severely cuts that available time by at least 30 seconds.